The Applicant has developed several apparatus for dispensing paper towels that are the subject of several patent applications in France and abroad which allow operation and dispensing of paper in folded or unfolded form.
Briefly, such apparatus generally comprises a reel of material, enclosed in a support housing, the reel capable of being unwound and routed towards a drum that includes a cutting device capable of dispensing strips of material cut to predetermined lengths.
In a first embodiment, the strip of paper can be unwound flat over the entire length of the drum or, in the context of an alternative embodiment, by using a special frame support such as that described in French Patent applications 94.04399 and 94.05698, the paper being dispensed in folded form.
Such apparatus are extremely reliable in operation but, in some cases, there may be a problem, caused by a high tensile force, of the strip of paper being unwound from the reel in a manner which creates, between the drum and the reel, a loose strip which eliminates any tension between the reel and the drum. It is then necessary to reduce or eliminate this loose strip by an additional action to dispense a strip of paper. This situation results from the fact that the reel of material placed between the flanges of the housing is rotatably mounted and must allow the unimpeded dispensing of the paper.